Division of Arts Seeks Input on Strategic Plan for Delaware

WILMINGTON, Del.- Officials with the Delaware Division of the Arts say they are seeking input from the community as they develop a new strategic plan.

The Division is working with Maren Brown Associates to create a plan that incorporates ideas from the state's arts community.

The public input process is planned to include surveys, community meetings, focus groups and telephone interviews.

The Division said two electronic surveys should be released around Oct. 20 on its website artsdel.org and sent by email. They are set to remain open until noon on Nov. 10.

The first survey will be designed for responses from individual artists based in Delaware. The second is for representatives of organizations and schools that provide arts programming.

Three community meetings are planned this fall in Milton, Dover and Wilmington. The Division says all Delaware constitutions are invited to attend the meeting and provide input.

The first meeting is scheduled for Oct. 27 at 4 p.m. at Milton Theatre. Two other meetings will be held on Oct. 28 in the MLK Student Center at Delaware State University at 9:30 a.m. and at OperaDelaware Studios in Wilmington at 4 p.m.

The Division plans to invite key stakeholders to join one of six focus groups. They say the focus groups will be comprised of individual artists, large arts organizations, small and medium arts organizations, representatives from K-12 education, as well as lifelong learning and community based organizations that offer art programming.

The phone interviews planned by the Division are set to include individuals whose work they believe will inspire their plan. They intend to conduct 30 one-on-one interviews.

A draft of the new Design Delaware Strategic Plan is set to be released for public input in February. The Delaware State Arts Council is expected to approve and publish the plan in March.